The six Blu-ray and DVD volumes for the Baka to Test to Shōkanjū Ni! television anime will include more bonus anime extras in addition to the previously announced anime adaptation of the Sore ga Bokura no Nichijō "spinout" manga. Each volume will have an "Shichōkaku-shitsu no Chūshin de Baka to Yobu" ("Call 'Baka' in the Middle of the Audiovisual Room") anime extra. Each volume will also have a live-action "Real F Class no Nichijō" (The Daily Life of the Real F Class) extra with the main cast (Hiro Shimono, Hitomi Harada, Kaori Mizuhashi, Tatsuhisa Suzuki, Emiri Katou, Kouki Miyata, Tomomi Isomura, and narrator Kumiko Inoue), as well as an audio commentary.

Baka to Test to Shōkanjū Ni! is the second television anime season based on Kenji Inoue's Baka to Test to Shōkanjū (Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts) comedy light novel series about students in the hapless F Class at a magical academy.

Kamis, 23 Juni 2011

New anime “Rou-Kyu-Bu!” that will start from July 2011 has put the anime trailer and Seiyuu’s trailer on view! Can this anime gain supremacy over Lolita anime in Summer 2011?

“Rou-Kyu-Bu!” is an anime that draws youthful enthusiasm of elementary school girls that play basketball. And it attracts attention that “Rou-Kyu-Bu!”’s voice actresses has already united the singer team before the anime starts.

The name of the singer team is RO-KYU-BU!.The member:Kana Hanazawa (Kuroneko of “Oreimo”, Mayuri Shiina of “Steins;Gate”, Angel of “Angel Beats!”)Youko Hikasa (Mio of “K-on!”, Houki Shinonono of “IS”)Yuuka Iguchi (Index of “To Aru Majutsu no Index”, Chiyo Umenomori of “Mayoi Neko Overrun!”)Rina Hidaka (Last Order of “Index and Railgun”)Yui Ogura (Alice of “Kami-sama no Memo-cho”)

The OP theme song is “SHOOT!” whose lyric is written by popular anime song singer KOTOKO. The song “SHOOT!” can be listened to in the trailers. And it has already been decided that the character image songs will be released.

Selasa, 21 Juni 2011

On Monday, the Saishin Anime Jōhō website began streaming the second promotional video for Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kira, a new original video anime series that celebrates the Higurashi no Naku Koro ni horror franchise's 10th anniversary next year. (The video plays in Microsoft Internet Explorer, but may not play in other browsers.) The site is still streaming the first promotional video.

The four bimonthly Blu-ray Disc/DVD volumes will ship between July 21, 2011 and January 25, 2012. The first volume will adapt the Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai software's Batsukoishi-hen storyline, while the remaining volumes will have all-new original stories: Ayakashisenshi-hen -Do-, Kichienshi-hen -Ai-, Yumeutsushi-hen -Raku-. Ryukishi07/07th Expansion created the original story, and Toshifumi Kawase is again supervising the scripts. Hideki Tachibana is directing at Studio DEEN.

07th Expansion's original Higurashi no Naku Koro ni visual novel software revolved around murders that coincide with an annual festival in a quiet rural village. The software inspired two television anime series, several video anime projects, two live-action films, and manga adaptations by several artists.

The game publisher MangaGamer licensed the rights to translate the original visual novel software for personal computers, and it has released them in English. Funimation took over North American distribution of the first Higurashi television anime series from Geneon Entertainment. Funimation released the first DVDs in 2008, but let the license expire due to poor sales. North America's Yen Press acquired the Higurashi manga for its Yen Plus anthology magazine and later for compiled book volumes.

Minggu, 19 Juni 2011

The official website for Manabu Ono and Sunrise's Kyōkai Senjō no Horizon (Horizon on the Middle of Nowhere) anime formally launched with a new 90-second promotional video streaming off the YouTube service on Saturday. Minoru Kawakami's original school fantasy light novel series is set in a distant future when Japan is divided into feudal territories and conquered by other countries. There is a floating city named Musashi that is composed of eight ships in the skies. A war that will determine the fate of the world will be fought by students on the Musashi. The anime will premiere in October.

On Monday, the English version of the Gundam.info portal site officially began streaming the promotional video for Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, the new anime series which will premiere in October. The same promotional video, which premiered during Monday's announcement for the anime, is also on the official Gundam AGE website, but that website's video is restricted to Japanese IP (Interenet Protocol) addresses.

Kamis, 16 Juni 2011

Netflix's streaming service has begun offering AIC Spirits & Asread's 12 episode anime series Ga-rei Zero. This prequel to Hajime Segawa's Ga-rei manga series has been released in a DVD/Blu-ray combo pack in North America by FUNimation.

Directed by Ei Aoki (Hourou Musuko: Wandering Son), the series follows Kagura Tsuchimiya, the daughter lineage of demon beast controllers, who'll eventually use her spirit dog Ga-Rei Byakuei in the service of the Japanese Ministry of Defense's anti-paranormal forces, and, unfortunately, against her adopted sister Yomi. (Beyond the demon battling brutality, the anime is often remarked upon for scenes of Kagura and adopted sister Yomi Lady and the Tramping sticks of Pocky.)

Selasa, 14 Juni 2011

The July issue of Shogakukan's Corocoro Comic magazine is announcing next Wednesday that the game developer Level 5 (Inazuma Eleven, Danbōru Senki) is working on all aspects of the new Gundam AGE anime for release this fall. In particular, Level 5 President Akihiro Hino is in charge of the story. There will also be a Gundam AGE manga running in the magazine.

The new series will have three generations of "father, child, and descendant" as the lead characters. The main characters pilot the Gundam unit to fight against an unknown attacking enemy (UE) and save Earth in a "One Hundred Year War" — an apparent homage to the One Year War of the first Gundam series.

The first main character is Furitto Asuno, who developed the Gundam AGE-1 mobile suit (humanoid mobile weapon) equipped with the AGE System (a self-adapting computer). The second main character is Asemu Asuno, Furitto's child. The third main character is Kio Asuno, Furitto's descendant who inherits the Gundam. The Gundam AGE-1 can be augmented as the Gundam AGE-1 Titus for more power, or as the Gundam AGE-1 Sparrow for more speed.

Other characters include Emily, Furitto's friend since he was 7. Guruudekku is a Commander in the Earth Federation Forces and the captain of the battleship Diva. Mireesu is a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Federation Forces aboard the Diva.

Tied into the anime will be "four ultimate projects" in the works: manga, hobby (model kits and figures), games, and cards.

Minggu, 12 Juni 2011

The official website of the Blue Exorcist anime announced on Saturday that Bandai Namco Games will sell a Blue Exorcist videogame for the Sony PSP console in Japan this fall. The site promises to offer more information on the "exorcist x kizuna (bonds) adventure" game.

The first DVD/Blu-ray Disc volume (pictured below) and original soundtrack for the anime will ship on June 22. The limited complete pressing of the Blu-ray/DVD volume will include a box to store the first five volumes. Kazue Katō, the creator of the original manga, illustrated the box. The volume will also include an original drama CD, an illustrated postcard, two exclusive tarot cards, and a mail-away form for an event that is limited only to Blu-ray/DVD buyers. Subsequent volumes will ship every month thereafter.The soundtrack will feature 18 songs from composer Hiroyuki Sawano (Iryū, Mobile Suit Gundam UC, Sengoku Basara), and the limited first edition will also include an exclusive tarot card.

Aniplex of America has been streaming the anime on Hulu, ANN, Crunchyroll, and Viz Anime since it premiered in Japan in April. (Viz also publishes the manga.) The story focuses on Rin Okumura, a boy raised by a famous exorcist named Father Fujimoto. After an argument between the two, Rin discovers he is the son of Satan. Rin decides to fight his fate by joining the True Cross Academy to become an exorcist and

In the story, a normal high school boy named Ayumu Aikawa gets killed during a spate of mysterious serial killings. However, Ayumu is resurrected as a zombie by a necromancer girl named "Yū" (Eucliwood Hellscythe), who Ayumu had just met before dying. Ayumu then accidentally deprives the magical girl Haruna of her powers, so she demands that Ayumu take her place in fighting her enemy Megalo.

Kamis, 09 Juni 2011

The official Japanese portal site for the Gundam robot franchise confirmed on Monday that a new work in the franchise will be revealed via a live event on June 13 at 1:30 p.m. in Japan (12:30 a.m. EDT). The Bandai Channel website will stream the announcement event, but the service is normally limited to Japanese IP (Internet Protocol) addresses.

An English Twitter account of Bluefin, Bandai's distributor in the United States, had retweeted a message last month that said, "A new Gundam series will be announced during the Tokyo Toy Show....about 3 weeks." However, the message has since been deleted. This year, the International Tokyo Toy Show will run from June 16 to 19.

According to the official twitter, an OVA of IS: Infinite Stratos was announced to be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on November 25th. The title is "IS encore 'Koi ni Kogareru Sextet". The announcement was first made at the "IS One-Off Festival" event on Sunday.

More details will be announced on the official website, but the organizers were already taking pre-orders for the release immediately after the festival ended. The Twitter account also announced that the IS One-Off Festival itself will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 26. (Pre-orders at the event site for both the IS One-Off Festival and IS Encore releases would include an event art poster with reproduced signatures of Yukana, Yōko Hikasa,Asami Shimoda, Kana Hanazawa, and Marina Inoue.)

Have you ever wished that you are woken up by your favorite anime character? JIHOU-CHAN is exactly the service for you. IDEA JAPAN has started JIHOU-CHAN, a wake-up call service for cell-phone by popular anime voice actress/actor for the first time in Japan on May 25. Jihou means "time signal" in Japanese.

You can receive time signal voices and various messages (wake-up call, birthday, encouraging words, love confession and such). The basic charge is 100 points/yen (roughly US$1.24) for one message.

Senin, 06 Juni 2011

After a wait of a year and two months, volume 8 of the "girls mahjong story" Saki manga is solicited for release on June 25th, 2011. Volume 7 had previously been released in April of 2010.

Now, as mentioned on Crunchyroll's twitter, an image was posted from a bbs to various blogs, presumably from Young Gangan 12 which comes out this Friday, stating that there will be two huge announcements on the band of volume 8. What are they? OVA? TV Season 2? Movie? Drama? Game? BD Box? Here are some things to think about.

It's obviously season 2! Not so fast. While possible, season 2 would be starved of material, especially for anything more than 12 episodes. The first series covered approximately 6.5 volumes in approximately 22 episodes. Including volume 8, there are approximately 3 additional volumes worth of material published since. The math is not too favorable. However, a movie or OVA might be possible.

A live action drama? A basically typical, or in other words lacking any source, 2ch rumor states that 3 Young Gangan properties are being turned into dramas. The first and already announced one is Arakawa Under the Bridge. The second is "A work with a lot of girls." That would describe Saki... and many other things. Though, with a live action Saki, how would they handle things like Nodoka and the super short skirts with an apparent lack of clothing under it. (Oh, and for those who want to know, the third is listed as "Unknown.")

Sabtu, 04 Juni 2011

Good Smile Company is now inviting the public to join the design contest for their Nendoroid Snow Hatsune Miku 2012 version at PIAPRO, a community site for creators of variety categories. The company is well-known for their Nendoroid and figma product lines. Hatsune Miku is one of the most popular characters in the lines.

The contest requires to design the Miku's costume using the jewels of snow or ice theme. The winner's design will be used for the actual Nendroid Snow Miku 2012 product in this winter. You have to register the PIAPRO website to join the contest. The contest is running from May 31 to June 20.

According to the official website, an OVA will be bundled with the Blu-ray box of Kiss Dum: Engage Planet. It's an original episode titled "Omokage". However, the release of the box set will be canceled if the number of the pre-orders are less than 2,000. The pre-ordering will be closed on June 6th, but the number hasn't reached the lower limit yet.

TV Anime Kiss Dum was aired in 2007 but the release of the DVD was canceled due to the failure of the production schedule. Director Nagaoka Yasushi was dismissed before the airing and Sato Eiichi took over the director position.

Jumat, 03 Juni 2011

GREE, Japan's largest social networking service, will be offering Nexon Mobile developed The Union of Haruhi Suzumiya starting June 15th. Play involves quests, mini-games and interaction with the otaku media

icon Haruhi Suzumiya and her SOS Brigade cohorts. The game is free to play, with revenue being generated through microtransactions.